When the Law Becomes Optional
Asem Mustafa Awan
Islamabad: On a regular day in Karachi, two luxury vehicles a Range Rover and a Toyota Hilux Revo cruised past traffic lights and checkpoints with an air of immunity. One flaunted a foreign number plate (“BJ72FEX”), while the other had none at all.
Both vehicles, with engines above 3000cc, fall into the highest taxation and regulatory brackets under provincial excise laws. Yet, they moved uninterrupted, while motorcycles and rickshaws were pulled over at every signal for license checks and helmet violations.
These images — disturbing but not unfamiliar — reflect a deeply ingrained culture of selective enforcement. While ordinary citizens are subject to strict checks, penalties, and harassment over minor infractions, a parallel track exists for those driving expensive vehicles with questionable documentation, foreign tags, or no registration at all.
A veteran governance advocate Naeem Sadiq recently raised the alarm in a letter addressed to the Inspector General of Sindh Police. He estimates that over 200,000 fraudulent or unregistered vehicles operate in Sindh, some using fake plates, others using foreign ones well beyond permissible timelines. He writes, “Only in Pakistan can one endlessly drive cars with foreign number plates, fake number plates, or no number plates at all.”
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The issue isn’t new. It is chronic. And despite years of appeals, meetings, and media reports, it has only deepened. What’s worse, the problem is institutional. “We keep changing faces but not processes,” the letter notes. True reform lies not in reshuffling personnel, but in automating systems, enforcing uniform rules, and holding all violators — regardless of wealth or power — to the same standard.
Recent public statements by the Sindh Police Chief admit the presence of criminal elements within police ranks who operate above the law. This admission is courageous but demands immediate reform. When those charged with enforcing the law are seen ignoring it, the very foundations of governance are undermined.
The disparity is stark: a citizen without a helmet is fined. A luxury SUV without a number plate is waved through. A small car with expired documents is impounded. A foreign-registered vehicle exceeding its legal import duration drives on unchecked. The message this sends is clear that the law is not equal, but negotiable.
One cannot build a modern society with feudal practices. As the world moves toward real-time data enforcement and digital vehicle monitoring, Sindh continues to rely on manual policing and discretionary checks. It is not that the solutions do not exist it is that the will to implement them does not.
The streets remember everything. And the people notice. Until governance moves from spectacle to substance, Pakistan’s cities will continue to reflect the rule not of law but of privilege.
Research work and photo Credit: Naeem Sadiq
The article is the writer’s opinion, it may or may not adhere to the organization’s editorial policy.
Asem Mustafa Awan has extensive reporting experience with leading national and international media organizations. He has also contributed to reference books such as the Alpine Journal and the American Alpine Journal, among other international publications.
